Northside defeats Richlands 72-42

Published: Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 09:00 AM.

Every point in this run came on transition after the Monarchs forced a turnover in the back court. Northside then had a 7-0 run in the third quarter to take a 48-25 lead.

They never looked back.

Richlands ended with 26 turnovers, compared to 12 from Northside.

“I was really surprised we had so many (turnovers) in a row,” Kellum said. “We beat the press a few times and they would have to take it off. We just didn’t beat it enough.”

Northside’s pressure defense allowed the Monarchs to neutralize Richlands center Tyree Best, who entered averaging 23 points per game. Best finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but only had seven points in the first half.

“We were pressuring them,” Ayabarreno said. “Coach is always talking about that. He wants us to pressure.”

The Monarchs also had a plan for Best when Richlands got the ball past midcourt.

RICHLANDS — Northside boys’ basketball coach Tony Marshburn didn’t hesitate to say his team responded well following its first loss of the season.

And respond well the Monarchs did Friday night as they used a series of runs to pull away and defeat Richlands 72-42 in an East Central 2-A Conference game.

Earlier, Northside defeated Richlands 50-16 in the girls’ game.

The Northside boys’ team (12-1, 4-1) was coming off a 73-72 loss at South Lenoir on Tuesday. It was a defeat that could have made the Monarchs second guess themselves, but it turned out to be a loss that seemed to have motivated them.

“We probably had two of the best days of practice this year after the loss,” Marshburn said. “We met on Wednesday for about 45 minutes in a classroom and I told the guys that it was behind us and that we don’t look back. We move forward.”

“We were focused and we just wanted to kick butt. That’s all we wanted to do,” he said. “It shows how tough we are that we were able to bounce back from that lapse. It was a humbling experience, but we are looking to the present.”

Not only did the Monarchs move forward against the Wildcats (6-8, 1-4), Northside moved fast. The Monarchs used their speed to get into transition against a Richlands team that had a size advantage over Northside.

“It was hard for us to match up size-wise,” Marshburn said. “But our quickness is our advantage.”

Jamal Parker scored 16 points, Ayabarreno added 13 and Josh Cabrera scored 12 for the Monarchs, who turned an 8-6 deficit into a 13-8 lead with a 7-0 run late in the first quarter. David Hilton gave Northside the lead for good at 9-8 with a 3-pointer before Parker scored the next six points on layups.

“Jamal was leaking out and getting fastbreaks,” Richlands coach Glenn Kellum said. “They beat us back and got numbers.”

Richlands closed to within 19-15 in the second quarter before Northside again went on a spurt. This time, the Monarchs used a 10-2 run to take a 28-17 lead.

Still, Northside’s biggest run came in the final minute of the second quarter. Leading 33-23, Ayabarreno and Parker each scored four points in an 8-0 to close the first half.

“I think it snowballed on them,” Marshburn said. “We ran some different (defensive looks) out of the press and I thought we gave them some problems. We tried to make their guards guess.”

Every point in this run came on transition after the Monarchs forced a turnover in the back court. Northside then had a 7-0 run in the third quarter to take a 48-25 lead.

They never looked back.

Richlands ended with 26 turnovers, compared to 12 from Northside.

“I was really surprised we had so many (turnovers) in a row,” Kellum said. “We beat the press a few times and they would have to take it off. We just didn’t beat it enough.”

Northside’s pressure defense allowed the Monarchs to neutralize Richlands center Tyree Best, who entered averaging 23 points per game. Best finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but only had seven points in the first half.

“We were pressuring them,” Ayabarreno said. “Coach is always talking about that. He wants us to pressure.”

The Monarchs also had a plan for Best when Richlands got the ball past midcourt.

“We wanted to shade him and try to double-team him because he is a great player,” Ayabarreno said.

And to hear Marshburn tell, the Monarchs were great in being able to bounce back from a tough loss.

“I’m really proud of my kids for responding after a tough loss,” he said. “There was no hangover. They stepped up tonight.”

Girls

Northside 50, Richlands 16: Northside kept Richlands scoreless in the first quarter as the Monarchs rebounded from a loss Tuesday with an ECC win over the Wildcats.

Northside (11-3, 4-1) lost 51-45 at South Lenoir on Tuesday, but came out strong on defense against Richlands (4-10, 0-5). The Monarchs forced 10 first-quarter turnovers and held the Wildcats to 0 of 10 shooting from the field during that span.

“A lot of our lead was a little pent-up frustration from the other night to be honest," Northside coach Chad Novelli said. “We just had to make a decision from tip-off to come out strong because we’ve been starting slow and enough was enough.

“Our goal was to come out and play hard. We played awesome tonight.”

Journee Collins led the Monarchs with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. She made a 3-pointer as time expired in the second quarter to give Northside a 21-8 lead.

Meanwhile, Richlands didn’t score until Soraya Kornegay made a long 2-point shot with 5:56 left in the second quarter to make it 16-2.

“We had shots in the first quarter, we just didn’t finish them,” Richlands coach Mike Kelly said.